Planetary Landers and Entry Probes

Dr Andrew Ball is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK. He works on planetary exploration, participating in a number of missions including Rosetta, Huygens and ExoMars. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the British Interplanetary Society. James Garry is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, The Netherlands, and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He has worked on ESA planetary missions for over ten years and has illustrated several space-related books. Ralph Lorenz is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, USA. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the British Interplanetary Society. He has 15 years of experience in NASA and ESA spaceflight projects and has authored several space books. Viktor Kerzhanovich is a Principal Member of Technical Staff of the Mobility and Robotic Systems Section of the Autonomous Systems Division, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA. He was a participant of all Soviet planetary Venus and Mars entry probes.

• Preface; Acknowledgements; Part I. Engineering Issues Specific to Entry Probes, Landers or Penetrators: 1. Mission goals and system engineering; 2. Accommodation, launch, cruise and arrival from orbit or interplanetary trajectory; 3. Entering atmospheres; 4. Descent through an atmosphere; 5. Descent to an airless body; 6. Planetary balloons, aircraft, submarines and cryobots; 7. Arrival at a surface; 8. Thermal control of landers and entry probes; 9. Power systems; 10. Communication and tracking of entry probes; 11. Radiation environment; 12. Surface activities: arms, drills, moles and mobility; 13. Structures; 14. Contamination of spacecraft and planets; Part II. Previous Atmosphere/Surface Vehicles and Their Payloads: 15. Destructive impact probes; 16. Atmospheric entry probes; 17. Pod landers; 18. Legged landers; 19. Payload delivery penetrators; 20. Small body surface missions; Part III. 'Case Studies': 21. Surveyor landers; 22. Galileo probe; 23. Huygens; 24. Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner; 25. Deep Space 2 Mars microprobes; 26. Rosetta lander Philae; 27. Mars exploration rovers: Spirit and Opportunity; Appendix: Some key parameters for bodies in the Solar System; List of acronyms; Bibliography; References; Index.

Review of the hardback: '… the book is a must for professionals, graduate and undergraduate students involved in planetary exploration, space mission design and engineering as it is (currently) a unique collection of information in the filed.' Planetary and Space Science